Well, dear readers, I must write these here notes in a hurry for I must get a good night’s sleep and then do a book signing. As you know, for the past two weeks I have been up at eight every day, sometimes even earlier, and not getting to bed until one or two in the morning. Add to that the bout with food poisoning and I have been exhausted and all in. But, I feel much better now save for this weird feeling I have in my jaw area – can you get lockjaw a week after maybe being stung by a bee? I’m sure it’s just all part and parcel of what’s been happening this week, and I think some of it has to do with the constant smell of paint and plastic and everything their using here, not to mention general dust. General Dust, of course, is related to Sergeant Grime and Corporal Dirt. In any case, I am really ready to feel 100% again and I’d like that to start this very day.
Yesterday was an okay day. I got up at eight (what else is new), got back into bed (what else is new) and then could not go back to sleep thanks to the drilling and hammering and sanding. I finally got up at ten. I was still queasy and therefore did not jog. But I was determined to eat something other than poached eggs so off I went and had a turkey sandwich and no fries or onion rings and I must say I rather enjoyed it and it actually made me feel better to get some real food in my real stomach. I picked up one tiny package and no mail, and then I came home and spent quite some time getting our singers and musical director all their music. We now are fully cast and it’s quite a cast, if I do say so myself, which I do. They are: Chelsea Emma Franko, Tessa Grady, Kevin Odekirk, Barry Pearl, and Jenna Rosen, along with two guest stars – Kelly O’Malley and Tony Tanner. Our musical director is Christy Crowl. So, our singers and MD for this show have all their stuff a full month ahead – I don’t think that’s ever happened before in all of our previous thirty-four shows.
After that, I just did work on the computer until the workers were done. They have about two days more work next week and then I shall have peace and quiet again. They’ve done a great job, but I will be happy to air out the house and not have the smells anymore. And then I decided to do a jog – I did two-and-a-half miles. I then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I finished watching a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Father Goose. What a delightfully delightful film it is – genuinely funny, endearing, and even suspenseful. The kids are cute, Cary Grant is superb, as always, and Leslie Caron is fetching and adorable. Cy Coleman’s score is really good, too. The transfer is okay – pretty clean, but the color resembles not a whit what the Technicolor prints looked like and it certainly could have with someone who knew what they were doing in the telecine room. A few clicks and it could have been perfect, but I guess that’s just too much trouble for those doing the transfers on some films, or they simply haven’t a clew what color looks like on films of that era. But the bottom line is the film is wonderful and therefore it is highly recommended by the likes of me.
Since I saw Behind the Candelabra last week, it made me want to watch Liberace: Behind the Music, the TV movie from 1987 with Victor Garber as Liberace. So, I got the DVD and watched it. It’s really not very good – a cliché-ridden script by the very good writer Gavin Lambert and by the numbers direction by David Greene. Plus the ninety-minute run time just allows a Cliff’s Notes version of the story – it just hops from one thing to another, you’re never told what the dates are – just a mundane TV movie. What’s interesting about it is that it was made just a year after Liberace’s death. In the early scenes Mr. Garber really is uncanny in his resemblance to the younger Liberace. But when they stick the false teeth on him then he starts not to resemble him at all – which makes you wonder why they did it. I will say that Garber apes playing the piano perfectly – you’d never know he wasn’t actually playing, unlike Michael Douglas – he may have had many piano coaches but in the end he’s just another actor who has no clew about piano playing and it shows. Douglas, though, captures the older Liberace better – both he and Garber do a fine job of capturing the vocal inflections. But where the recent film had a great supporting cast straight down the line, the TV movie, which was shot in Canada to get those money breaks, features mostly Canadians and some not-too-good ones at that. Maureen Stapleton as mom is here usual brilliant self and Saul Rubinek is fine as the manager. But the fellow who plays Scott Thorson is awful. All in all, not too interesting and one is better off watching videos of Liberace, which are a lot more entertaining. Transfer is nothing to write home about, although I did write home about it nonetheless, just because home likes to get letters, the old fashioned kind.
Dear Home:
The transfer of Liberace: Behind the Music is nothing to write home about and yet I wrote you anyway. I hope you are doing well.
Love and kisses,
BK
Wasn’t that a lovely letter to home? Where was I? Oh, yes, after the film I took some aspirin for the headache I had for most of the day and hopefully that will help. I also sent off the questions for what will be our first Unseemly Interview in probably eight years. I’m looking forward to doing these again – they’re a lot of fun to do and I know lots of new folks to have do them. But I started with someone who is part of the Kritzerland family, just because it was easy and because he’s an interesting fellow for any number of reasons.
Today, I shall hopefully arise after a good night’s sleep, I shall pick up a Parisian Cake, I shall do a jog, then I shall get ready for the book signing, which takes place at two o’clock at Mystery and Imagination Books in the Dale of Glen. I’m looking forward to it and hope we have a good crowd, but however big the crowd I will have fun no matter what. I’ll read, I’ll answer questions, I’ll sign books and give away little gift things, and then a few of us will go get a bite to eat. The evening hours are mine all mine.
Tomorrow is, of course, the Tony Awards Bash, and this is the only place to be because we always have the best of times right here at haineshisway.com. Of course, spoilers please for those on our Coast who care about the outcome – I don’t, really, but some will. But we want to know all about everything but the winners – the wardrobe, the numbers, all of it. Our little partay will be filled with merriment and mirth and laughter and legs.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do a jog, pick up a cake, do a signing, eat, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films of Cary Grant, surely one of the finest screen actors who ever lived, and your favorite films of Miss Leslie Caron? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall hopefully wake up refreshed and ready for the book signing.